How to Change Your Life in One Easy Step! The Beginning to Life Change and Transformation

For 9 years we have heard about Giving Tuesday, as it started in 2011. It is a global movement that unleashes the power of people and organizations to transform their communities and the world. In the midst of the pandemic, nonprofits across the country are struggling with fundraising. Even the American Cancer Society says it will have to cut its funding for cancer research by 50%, which would represent the organization's lowest investment this century.

We have interviewed over 50 non-profits and social enterprises here at The Talking Story Podcast that do what they do because they are passionate about changing the WORLD. And they do that by making a difference in the lives of others. How?

Number 1: Investing in relationship. Taking the time to get to know a person/community and their needs.

Number 2: Addressing those needs, a common factor that we have seen is thru providing employment, but there are other ways like maintaining  and building water wells in central Africa, building schools, and offering horse- back riding lessons as a form of therapy and healing.

Number 3: They ARE consistent. They show up. They show up when things are hard. They show up when money is scarce, they show up when the world is falling a part.

Our interviewee today, Jen, from Covered Colorado represents an organization dedicated to empowering Colorado’s sex trafficking survivors with the resources and skills they need to experience a future filled with hope.

As you all know, fighting sex trafficking is near and dear to my heart. Covered works with survivors over 18 years old, assisting them and their children with a chance to change their lives for the better. They know more than anything that these victims need love and positive direction. After such a traumatizing experience, their brain functions are not the same and they need help to change They offer a healthy community full of caring coaches that have been trained to help with these unique needs, teaching and often re-teaching life skills that can help these survivors obtain jobs, making them self-sufficient and empowered to break the bondage they’ve been held by for so long.

they believe if they can change the cycles of survivors post-rescue, then They can transform the sex trafficking industry by helping victims realize they can take back their independence.

There are SO many ways to do come to the battleground. Listening to this interview will guarantee bring inspiration to your life in HOW you can use your life in a purposeful way whether it is with Covered Colorado, another organization, or maybe you are called to start something?

Folks, enjoy this conversation. I continue to learn more about the atrocity and I continue to be inspired how I can be a part of the change in which I hope to see in this world. It’s easy to point and expect others to fight, but it really starts with us saying “send me”.

 

 

 

 

Did you not enjoy that interview? I can’t wait to have Joann on our show! But Jen, you did such a fabulous job to share the heartbeat behind the mission of your organization.

 Folks, we are on the EVE of Giving Tuesday. This is our chance to use our MONEY to support organizations like Covered Colorado and SO many others we have had on the show. And like I said before, if you are like me, it’s so easy to think “someone else will take care of it”. “Someone else has more money than me, they’ll give, they don’t need my money”.

We love bringing you to the table to hear the  conversations…the“whys” the reason these organizations exist. It’s so important to know what goes on behind the website, behind the name. You get to listen to the raw and real, the ins and outs, the joys and the pains of what running a missional organizational means. And yes, I am meeting friends all over the world, and I love learning, but these stories are meant to challenge us to use OUR time, resources, and/or money to make a difference in the lives of others. We aren’t patting folks on the back and saying “good job” by shining a spotlight on them thru these interviews, INSTEAD, we are begging you to understand we CAN be participants in helping change lives. We can use our lives, no matter what our vocation, no matter our age, our economic status, our gender, our marital status… to HELP OTHERS. In fact, our argument is that when you help people, your life changes in an incredible way as well. Suffering from depression? Anxiety? Hopelessness? Despair? Start using your life to better another.

I want to read something from gotquestions.org.

Our God is a giving God. He is a God of abundance (John 10:10; James 1:5; Psalm 103:8; Isaiah 55:1-7; 2 Corinthians 9:8; Romans 5:20), and He loves to give. He sacrificed willingly on the cross and then invited us into fullness of life. As His children, we are called to imitate Him (Ephesians 5:1). Our generosity in giving is a demonstration of God’s character and a response to what He has done for us.

Christians are a light to the world (Matthew 5:14-16). As we become more and more who God has called us to be – more like Him – through the process of sanctification, we reflect God more and more. We become more loving, more gracious, and, yes, more giving. Because God is generous, we are also called to be generous. Generosity not only points others to God, it is an appropriate response to what God has done for us.

“To whom much has been given, much more will be expected.” This has become a common phrase in Western society. Its biblical roots are in Luke 12:48. Because we have been so freely loved, we now love others (John 13:34). Because we have been forgiven, we forgive others (Matthew 18:21-35). Our response to God’s abundance with us is to share that abundance with others. When we appropriately receive God’s generosity, it humbles us. We recognize that we are not worthy of His gift. Out of gratefulness, we become more gracious with others. We begin to learn the heart of God and want to be more like Him.

Generosity has positive effects in human relationships. When one person gives freely to another, the recipient often “passes forward” the gift. In the Christian life, the impetus is much greater. Jesus taught us that “it is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35).

Not only does our giving demonstrate God’s character to the world, it results in increased faith for us. When we are willing to give, we declare that our faith does not depend on material possessions. Instead, we show that our faith is in God, who is always faithful to provide (1 Kings 17:7-16).

Christians are giving people, and, in giving, they lose nothing. As Bunyan wrote, “A man there was, tho' some did count him mad, / The more he cast away the more he had.” When we give, we empty ourselves in order to be filled again by God. “Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you” (Luke 6:38).

Guys giving is so important. Giving inspires others to give. Giving demonstrates to your children what life is all about, truly. Giving cultivates self worth. Giving makes you happy.

This launches Monday, before Giving Tuesday, but as with all the podcasts it will live beyond this week. So maybe you are listening to  ttsp mid-March of 2025…that seems way far away…but no matter when you are listening…now is the time to give. Give even when it hurts. Give with joy. Because what happens on the otherside of giving is absolutely incredible.

But guys, Don’t just give and be done. Build a relationship with the person and/or organization. Invest. Be consistent. That will be the most beautiful thing you can do for yourself and your family.

It’s so cool to hear stories coming in on how people are using their lives to better others. We have realistate agents changing the way they are selling property, now using their business as an opportunity for education and give back. A pottery business is now giving back thru their profits. AND SO MUCH MORE.

What a cool way that these people have taken the tools they have learned on this podcast and applied it in their passions and their lives.

We are so thankful for you. We are thankful that you walk this planet. Thanks for being YOU.

 

After Giving Tuesday, here's our actual blog for this podcast

Think on this: One act of obedience can lead to new life for a fellow human being. Maybe two people. What about 70?? When we follow God, that still small voice that urges us to do things — sometimes scary and quite uncomfortable things — is bound to change us, our lives, and also the lives of others. As today’s guest Jen knows well, that change is better (and often very different!) then anything we could ever have planned on our own.

Jen’s surprise instructions came one day as she sat in church. A friend and former spiritual mentor was about to start something major, but she knew she couldn’t do it alone. Her prayers were answered in that church pew, and Jen’s obedience transformed into the divinely appointed help this friend, Joanna, needed to found Colorado’s first organization to help survivors of sex trafficking over the age of 18 rebuild their lives.

Covered Colorado works alongside local law enforcement and other organizations and nonprofits to help rehabilitate survivors and their children after they’ve exited the hopeless world of exploitation. Before Covered began in 2016, no such resources were available for this age group. But now, the lives of 70 women and a few men have been transformed. Some of them have graduated the 2 year program and several have gone on to start their own businesses, even in the midst of (and as a response to) Covid! God raised this organization out of one woman’s heart burdened to help survivors, and out of the obedience of another.
He has brought women trained in counseling, psychology, and law enforcement to work with the survivors, along with about 70 volunteers. Covered has street ministry teams, an app that allows people to donate to provide a safe night for victims seeking refuge, and amazing stories of healing and hope.

Give this episode a listen to hear what drove Joanna to start this organization in the first place, and more about how Covered helps survivors rebuild their lives and find their purpose again. Jen gets up to go to work- volunteer work- every morning to provide resources for the hurting because she can see rays of hope beginning to shine in these survivors. And, because she can say, “Everything you’ve been through was not for loss. It was for a purpose. It was for something greater.” Covered Colorado is helping survivors of sex trafficking find that “something greater.”


Be on the lookout for some of these incredible stories of hope coming soon! Follow Covered Colorado on Facebook, Instagram, and/or Twitter. You can also visit coveredcolorado.org for more information.


Come connect with your hosts!

Kelsey

www.instagram.com/captkelseyhawaii

Bob

www.instagram.com/waliszrs


Sponsored by Moi Moi Market

www.instagram.com/moimoimarket

 

 

 

 

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